Madison Oltman

History153

Professor Zuccarini

Digital Portfolio Reflection

History plays a huge part in shaping society today including how people go about

businesses, how the economy is running, how much power the government has, the laws and

rights that are put in place for everyone to follow, and from all the new technology being made

and how it effects daily life. As a historian today and taking all the information from this course

applying it in society today could be difficult, but if I could focus on one topic and try and better

society with the knowledge Ive gained I would focus on the economy and business. So much

throughout history has changed and had an impact on how businesses are running and how the

economy is where its at now, taking past mistakes and failures can help to better today and keep

people from making those same issues occur. In the beginning of this course I found history to

not be an exciting topic and was only a subject I needed to get credit for, but from really

understanding and taking a hard look at where society was and how much weve changed in a

short amount of time is actually incredible and makes one want to know even more. Our

histories tell us much about what we personally value, as much as they tell us about what was in

the past (Blair Dee Hodges)

A huge economic challenge America faced back in the 1930s was The Great Depression.

Not only were our banks failing and the majority of the population was left jobless, but also a

huge problem with our soil and land was affecting farming and would force farmers to change
their farming technics for good. Today we can rely on our banks and the government to keep the

economy stable and we have the skills to know when the economy may take a crash and to make

changes that will hopefully bring it back up. Using the Great Depression as a learning tool is a

major key in our economy today for we can take a time when America was at its worst point and

take events that made the situation worse and what the government could have done to fix the

failing economy. Presidents in the future would look at president Hoover and realize how he ran

things did not work for the economy during such a desperate time. Back to the agriculture issue,

farmers were not aware that the technics they were using was causing harm to the land plus a

drought caused the once rich soil into unworkable dust/dirt. To this day farmers are using

different technics that they started using after the great Dust Bowl to keep the soil from going

bad again. Trial and error fills our history and we use that today to make important decisions.

Taking something so big like The Great Depression and understanding how the economy got so

bad will help to stop future bank failures and keep such a hardship from effecting America again.

History matters because without credible story about where we have been before, we

truly have no idea where we are now. And without evidence about past sequences of cause and

effect, it is well-nigh impossible to develop intelligent plans for the future (Anne McCants).

McCants statement about the importance of history stuck out because a huge part of history is

actually using the past and advancing in the future from it. For example, with inequality between

men and women in the workforce, women were looked at as mothers taking care of the home

with no ambition to be in the workplace alongside men. Putting women to work to do a mans

job during WWII was a huge step forward for women in business and the help of famous

propaganda like Rosie the Riveter to get women into manual labor jobs during a hard time would

always be remembered. Now in the 21st century we have stay at home dads and women being the
bread winner of the family. There is still a wage gap and the issue of sexual harassment that

makes it so women still have more to gain when it comes to equality in the workplace, but taking

a look at Americas past we have come a long way.

Broadening our humanity and extending our sensibilities by recognizing sameness and

differences throughout the recorded past is therefore an important reason for studying history,

and especially the history of peoples far away and long ago. For we can only know ourselves by

knowing how we resemble and how we differ from others. Acquaintance with the human past is

the only way to such self-knowledge (William H. McNeill). John D. Rockefeller was someone

that can be looked at in history to inspire entrepreneurs and people today who feel like they are at

the bottom, but can work their way up. Rockefeller came from a middle-class family yet used

what he had and his gut instinct to act fast and make big bucks off his merchandise. He worked

his way up the ladder by investing in others work, some say he did it unfairly. But no one can

deny his success and the way he effected the economy with his oil. Citizens who have made

something out of themselves from almost nothing are looked at today for inspiration and

guidance. The economy and business in the U.S is built from driven people who want to make a

difference to better themselves and others.

Finally, historical narratives offer us stories of humility, courage, wisdom, and-most

important-hope. In essence, history teaches us to move forward, recognize our mistakes and learn

from them, and ultimately create a better existence for all (Michael Postman). Looking back on

our history to lead us and pave a way to a better society is ideal to creating a society moving

forward and not backwards. History teaches us failures that already happened so we dont have

to have them again, and success that can inspire us to create more. The economy is always going

to be fluctuating, but should stay above the crashing line and businesses are going to come and
go with learning lessons. History happened for a reason and as responsible knowledge filled

citizens its our job to keep it alive and learn from it.